Guardians

Paul took the older three to a screening of "Rise of the Guardians" (coming out soon). He sent me a few photos of the kids enjoying the movie.

So I sent him a few photos of what I was doing.

Haha....somehow I think he got the better end of the deal.

This is no ordinary bum. It was a stinky bum. LOL!

A few random shots

In no particular order, here are few photos I found on my phone recently.

Ashlyn has been doing really well in Ballet and is really loving it. Her 2nd class just ended, but she will be starting up again in January after the holidays.

Brandon has been having bad dreams (actually he has ever since we took him out of his crib), but it seems to be getting worse. So we are just suckers or he is really truly scared. Either way, at some point every night, he ends up in our room. So I just decided to set up a little bed for him. That way he doesn't try to get in OUR bed, which does NOT work. He moves a ton. Anyway, it doesn't really bother me. I'd rather him feel like he can come to us, than have him scared and crying in his room but too worried to come in thinking we'll get mad at him. 

Ever since Grandma K (Preschool teacher) collected toilet paper rolls to make binoculars for the kids, Brandon has been obsessed with keeping every one he sees around the house. And we go through A LOT of toilet paper. Sometimes I try to hide the empty rolls in the kitchen garbage so he doesn't pull them out of the bathroom trash to put them on his dresser. Funny little guy.

Ashlyn still loves her American Girl Doll Julie. Sometimes she joins us for dinner. She even gets her own food. Lucky Doll!

The Voice

It's no secret that I'm not a huge TV watcher. Not that I don't enjoy TV shows. I just always find myself doing other things instead. But when a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to come see a taping of "The Voice", I couldn't pass it up (even though I probably have only seen the show a few times.)

I think a bunch of people were planning on coming, but when it came down to it, it ended up just being me, Tina and Lauren. We missed all our friends, but still had a great time together. The worst part though was that the girl that organized it all (Brittany) ended up not being able to come either. So it was super nice of her to still let us go with her tickets. 

We had really great seats too. 

By the time the show ended, we were starving so we hit up The Cheesecake Factory for some VERY yummy food. 

Then we walked around The Americana Shopping Center and chatted for a good long while before heading home to our hubbies who were so awesome to stay with the kids while we enjoyed our afternoon/evening.

First Haircut

It took me two years to concede but I finally took my littlest man in for a trim. JUST a trim mind you. Cuz I love his hair and didn't want to buzz it off. But it needed to be evened up. I must say he looks QUITE handsome. 

He was so good too. A little scared at first, but nothing the promise of a few m&m's couldn't handle. He sat right down and let the stylist cut his hair. All while holding on tightly to my hand, but that's okay. I thought it was endearing.

Here's a before shot.

And after. It's hard to tell too much of a difference but the back does look noticeable better, while still retaining some of his adorable curls.

My "Charlie Brown" got a hair cut too. Of course he likes french fries as a reward. But hey, whatever works is fine with me. It's amazing how much hair this kid really has. It's so light that it's hard to tell until you see it all buzzed off and laying on the ground.

Ah...just the way he likes it. So that I don't ever have to take a brush to it at all.

Election 2012

I don't have much too say about the election, because if I do, I will cry and I don't want to cry. Mitt Romney is SUCH a great man. He would have made a WONDERFUL President. He would have done so much good. 

Anyway, it doesn't really matter why he didn't win. The what ifs and such. It doesn't do any good. Obama is still our President and I'm hoping and praying he will do a better job in the next four years than he has done in the last four. Not to say he's a horrible man. He's not. I just don't think he's led our country well.

Here's a quote I snagged off of a friends blog. I found it comforting to remember who is really in control. And to know what is really most important in this life. My Family, my Faith.

"Men may fail this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never faith.  This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden.  This is the place of the New Jerusalem.  This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world.  This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple.  This is the favored land in all the world.  yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail.  I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges. 

"I please with you not to preach pessimism.  Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world.   This is the favored land.  This is the land of our forefathers.  It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through." 

President Harold B. Lee, Ye are the Light of the World.  

Forgery

Got Leah's Tuesday folder home yesterday. At first I thought her teacher didn't fill it out for the week. Then I realized "HEY, THAT'S NOT MY SIGNATURE". At least she put her own name up above where she FORGED mine. We had a little talk about how it's not a good thing to sign someone else's name. She didn't know any better, and actually felt pretty bad after I told her. I'm just hoping this is not a sign of my future.

A FULL Halloween

Here's my "mummy dog's" from the night before. We had one casualty as you can see. In my defense I wrapped these REALLY fast cuz I had to get them done before running back out to pick Ashlyn up from Girl Scouts.

YUM! Cupcakes! The top left...that was mine....Red velvet. So good.

And here's my cute Carter on Halloween morning jamming to my old school ipod shuffle.

Oh and I made cookies for Leah's Halloween party. It kept me up late, but I know I'll be missing days like these. Before I know it won't be cool to have your mom bring in cookies to your class.

Ok, on to Halloween!

That morning started out with Brandon's Preschool party. He may not have worn a costume (surprise, surprise) but he actually participated in his program this year. So I was a happy momma! He did a good job too. And even sang me a song from his program later that day. 

We left Brandon's Preschool party a little early so I could go pick up Ashlyn from school and head down to DreamWorks Animation for their yearly Halloween Bash. (Leah wanted to stay at school for her class party.)

While we were eating lunch, Ashlyn's costume twin found her and came to take a picture with her. It was really cute. She let Ashlyn hold her camel and admired her costume.

They had face painting and so even I got in on a little Halloween Spirit and got my face painted. Ashlyn opted for a pumpkin on her arm. 

They had trick or treating.

Games for the kids to play.

And a "spooky" Halloween Cave to walk through.

Then we checked out the pumpkin carvings.

This one won 1st place.

Ashlyn got to decorate a VERY large sugar cookie, of which even she couldn't finish!

I got a picture with three of my four munckins. We missed Leah, but maybe next year we'll be cool enough for her to want to chose us instead of school. Just kidding. I don't blame her. How often do you get to have a class party? 

That night we hit up our favorite Trick or Treating neighborhood just down the street from us. They have so many fun houses that go all out. It's quieter earlier in the evening but by the time we left, it was getting pretty packed. I was glad we hit it early.

And wow....surprise, surprise....Brandon didn't want to wear his costume AGAIN this year. I was smart though and borrowed one so I didn't waste money on something I knew he wouldn't wear. So if you squint your eyes a whole lot, you can just imagine him as a CA surfer boy. That's his costume (wink,wink).

Okay, this house is the coolest. Last year they had a whole Toy Story theme. Turned their garage into "Pizza Planet" from the movie. This year they RENTED this car and had stickers put on it and dressed up their yard with candy in the tool box there on the left. Seriously amazing the lengths people go to. I thank them for it because it makes my kids childhood memories all the more awesome without me having to do a thing!

After about an hour or more, we called it a night and headed home to count the loot. Here's some of the goods. I don't know what we are going to do with all of this stuff. One thing for sure is that it's definitely staying down stairs where it can be rationed out. I already went through it all and had the kids throw out stuff they aren't going to eat anyway. Might as well get rid of the yuck candy now.

Happy Halloween everyone! Till next year. I know the kids already can't wait.